SoccerNews Issue # 09, September 29th 2014

Continental/Division Tires Alexander Bahlmann Phone: +49 511 938 2615 Head of Media & Public Relations PLT E-Mail: [email protected] Buettnerstraße 25 | 30165 Hannover www.contisoccerworld.de Foto: dpa Soccer News # 09/2014 2

In the right defensive position on Sunday before the final whistle. The diagnosis came evening Loew lined up a player wearing the on Monday: the midfielder suffered an injury number 7 shirt and the family name “Rudy”. to his left ankle joint, just as he did in the last But by putting Hoffenheim player Rudy, 24, pre-World Cup friendly against Armenia, caus- who earned only his third cap, as did his coun- ing him to miss the World Cup. With a partly terpart on the left side, Erik Durm, 22, into the ruptured outside ligament and an overexpan- four-man defence, did signal the beginning sion of the tarsal ligaments he will be out of new experimentation. Retirements and for four weeks. The second injury of the key injuries had forced a reformation of the team, player will be of more concern to Borussia minus established key players, to meet the Dortmund than to Loew. Schalke player Julian strong Scots just eight weeks after the World Draxler, Loew’s alternative for Reus, had also Cup triumph in Rio de Janeiro. been injured during the 4-2 loss to Argentina in the friendly match four days earlier. “We will have to improvise in the upcoming months”

Sebastian Rudy is originally a defensive mid- fielder. The Black Forest-born player held this position in the U21 selection of the German Football Association (DFB) until last year, and also plays there for his club. “I simply thought it looked a good alternative to put him at right back, and he did a good job”, Loew said, Thomas Mueller scores the 2-1 winning goal for Germany against Scotland. The World Cup champions start stressing that he will soon have to take more the 2016 European Championship qualification with three points. (Photo: GES/Augenklick) unusual decisions. “We have to improvise in the upcoming months”, the national coach explained, preparing the fans for a phase in News which the top-ranked team in the world will logically lose quality compared to the World Cup competition.

Loew starts to reform the World The realignment is also the price for the fourth World Cup title, with the energy- Cup winning team sapping World Cup tournament forcing many players to their limit. Joachim Loew knows exactly what he has in Thomas Mueller. Nothing with the 24-year-old can went far beyond, while ’s rup- surprise him anymore. “He can’t puzzle me further. I have experienced so much with him”, said tured muscle could also be due to the thrash- the German national coach, when he spoke of “match winner” Mueller. The Munich player, who ing in June and July. Loew said that Khedira Sebastian Rudy from Hoffenheim made his first had prompted the 2-1 (1-0) win over Scotland with two goals at the start of the European Cham- would possibly be missing also for the Octo- appearance at right back in the German team that pionship qualifications, possesses a distinctive hunger for goals. Loew had also been creative ber qualifiers. Against the Scots it was Marco played Scotland. Joachim Löw is also aiming to test with his newest discovery. Thus once again he unveiled a surprise for most of the 60,200 spec- Reus, who received treatment for some time other candidates for the position. tators in Dortmund. before being led off the pitch limping shortly (photo: GES/Augenklick) Soccer News # 09/2014 3

Loew will continue casting for outside also named by Loew as an alternative, plays in central defence. News defenders Kevin Grosskreutz is no longer among the candidates, Loew According to Loew the fact that the team “lost made quite clear. But Loew has often proved that he gives DFB opponents Gibraltar lose “at home” in Portugal a bit of control of the match” in the second returnees a new chance, which could also hold true for Marcel half in Dortmund was because all players Schmelzer, Marcell Jansen and Dennis Aogo if they reach top On May 24, 2013, Gibraltar was affiliated as the 54th full member by the Euro- from the World Cup squad have not reached form. pean Football Association, UEFA. Last Sunday, the national team of the country peak fitness at this stage of the season. This with 30,000 inhabitants which belongs to the territory of Great Britain, played could clearly be seen with central defenders One fact is certain – a , with his class, will not be their first competitive match after five friendly games. They lost their first Euro- Benedikt Hoewedes and Jerome Boateng, replaced for a long time. But with the entire team Loew will pean qualifier 7-0 (1-0) to Poland, with (FC Bayern Munich) causing the defence to be slightly shaky in continue to bid for understanding that could repeat such per- scoring four goals. It was officially a home match for Gibraltar, which is located the second half. and Mario Goetze formances seen at the World Cup again only at the 2016 Euro- on the southern tip of Spain with its “Apes’ Rock”. But as the Victoria Stadium in too, still not fully recovered from the World pean Championship. Gibraltar does not comply with UEFA guidelines, the encounter took place in Cup efforts, are not in top shape. But one Faro in Portugal, almost 400 kilometres away. A total of 1,602 spectators jour- at least functioned normally in front of the neyed to the 2004 European Championship stadium. “Gibraltar, the youngest opposing goal. “If you have a player such as UEFA member, has a team which allows the majority of opponents record goals“, Mueller, who can jump 2.50m high, you can- World Cup Rules wrote the Polish newspaper “Rzeczpospolita”. For the encounter with World not prevent goals. Mueller simply is a unique Cup champions Germany in the European Championship qualification Group D, machine”, said Scotland’s coach Gordon the amateurs around goalkeeper Jordan Perez, who is a firefighter, will travel to Strachan about the FC Bayern striker, who A new system for the European Nuremberg on November 14. The second leg will take place in Faro at Estadio has scored eight goals in the last nine interna- Championship Algarve in June 2015. tional matches. At the 15th European Championship in 2016, 24 teams Loew need not worry unduly about the of- will play for the title for the first time. In addition to the fence, but has clear problems in the defence. automatically qualified hosts France, 23 teams will be The national coach no longer intends to play determined in the qualification for the tournament. Fifty with four inside defenders as at the World three nations have been divided into nine five or six-team Cup, which would be possible with Hoewedes, groups. The nine group winners and, for the first time the Boateng, Hummels, and the possibly soon nine runners-up as well as the best third-placed team, will returning Holger Badstuber. And a three-man qualify directly for the finals. The eight remaining third- defence is not included in Loew’s concrete placed teams will play four play-off matches (two legs) planning, although he has concerned himself thus determining the last four participants. At the Euro- with it. In the future he wants to bring in out- pean Championship finals six four-team groups instead of side defenders who play offensively. four will play. The two best teams in each group, and the four best third-placed teams will advance to the knock-out With the upcoming matches this year against stages. Poland, Ireland and Gibraltar as well as in Spain, further newcomers could follow Rudy in getting a casting opportunity: The Freiburg duo Oliver Song and Christian Guenter, as well as Wolfsburg’s Sebastian Jung, fulfil the defensive tasks in the outside positions in the Gibraltar lost their first competitive match in their football history 7-0 against Poland. , while Stuttgart’s Antonio Ruediger, Robert Lewandowski celebrates one of his four goals in Faro. (Photo: Getty Images) Soccer News # 09/2014 4

News strong man despite the frustrating World Cup “I have never lost my trust in the team. I am im- In addition to Lewandowski, further Bundesliga campaign. pressed by how they played”, said team manag- professionals impressed in the international er Roy Hodgson after his travel to the past. The matches. Munich’s Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg initi- Deposed 2010 World Cup champions Spain had now 67-year-old had coached the Swiss from ated the change during Denmark’s 2-1 over “Week of Foot- also rejected a change of coach after elimina- 1992 to 1995, a job now held by Vladimir Pet- Armenia in the Portugal Group I. Dortmund’s tion in the first round. Vicente del Bosque, under kovic. As the successor to Ottmar Hitzfeld the Henrikh Mkhitarian had scored to notch a lead ball” starts with whose leadership “La Roja” had won the World Bosnian has inherited a tough task, as proven for the East Europeans. Höjbjerg’s Bayern team- Cup and European title, remained to initiate a by the opening defeat. Danny Welbeck scored mate David Alaba scored first for Austria in the new beginning after stars such as Xavi and Xabi the two goals for the team led by new England 1-1 draw with Sweden. The Scandinavians might a defeat for Alonso retired. Contrary to their Portuguese captain Wayne Rooney. The youngster had be the toughest competitors for Austria on the neighbours, the Spaniards superiorly managed just been rejected by Manchester United’s new road to the 2016 European Championship in Portugal their task with 5-1 against Macedonia at the coach Louis van Gaal and transferred to Arsenal France alongside 2018 World Cup hosts Russia, start of Group C. Sergio Ramos, Paco Alcacer, FC for 20 million Euros. who simply fulfilled their obligations with a 4-0 Sergio Busquets, David Silva and Pedro scored win over Liechtenstein. “Week of Football” is the new format for the the goals. Considering their other opponents, Van Gaal, who was allowed to buy new players qualification process for the 2016 UEFA Euro- Ukraine, Slovakia, Belarus and Luxembourg, the for the United record of 195 million Euros in the Neymar is back and Brazil win again pean Championship. The qualifying matches ticket to the finals in France should be a simple summer, led the Netherlands to third place at no longer take place on one day but spread out formality. the World Cup. His successor is Guus Hiddink, The counterpart of the European Championship over a week. The European Football Association who coached Oranje until 1998 and directed is in South America where the Copa America (UEFA) believe the new regulation promises England start with a win in the top game them into the World Cup semi-finals. His come- will take place next year in Chile. Carlos Dunga better marketing opportunities. Consequently back was unsuccessful, with the Dutch losing has a year to free record-winning World Cup football fans have to get used to Germany, The new system, with the two best teams in the 2-0 (2-0) to four-time World Cup champions Italy champions Brazil from the World Cup trauma for instance, playing on Sunday, England on group qualifying directly for the finals, should in a friendly. But the European Championship of heavy defeats against Germany (1-7) and the Monday and Italy only on Tuesday. It needs to also bring relief to England, the motherland qualification should hardly be endangered con- Netherlands (0-3). The new beginning was suc- prepare also for an alleged heavyweight such as of football. Particularly as the “Three Lions” sidering their opponents in Group A are Czech cessful with a 1-0 against Colombia in Miami, Portugal suffering a bitter defeat at the hands of mastered their first competitive task brilliantly, Republic, Turkey, Iceland, Latvia and Kazakhstan. Florida, also because young star Neymar has Albania. 76 days after elimination in the first round of returned and immediately scored the winner

the World Cup. England won the top match in Bundesliga professionals score many goals from a free kick. The Portuguese lost 1-0 to the 70th-ranked Group E 2-0 in Switzerland team at home in Aveiro, thus undercutting by Poland recorded the highest win in the opening Neymar after all. The World Cup dream of the far even the disappointing elimination in the first round of the European Championship qualifica- exceptional technician had been shattered dur- round of the World Cup. In Brazil the much chid- tion, due mainly to a lack of quality opposition ing the quarter-final win over Colombia after a ed World Football Player of the Year, Cristiano from footballing midget Gibraltar. Bundesliga crude foul by Camilo Zuniga, causing a broken Ronaldo, was not to blame; this time “CR7” was record scorer Robert Lewandowski contributed lumbar vertebrae. The incident was dispelled missing due to a knee-injury, but that’s hardly four goals to the 7-0 victory. Consequently the with a reconciliatory gesture before the kick- an explanation for the “biggest disgrace in the 2012 European Championship hosts are top of off; afterwards Dunga raved over the playing national team’s history” (newspaper “A Bola”). the table in Group D prior to the encounter with arts of his new captain. “He makes the most The spectators acknowledged the disgrace with World Cup champions Germany in Warsaw on difficult things look easy”, said the old and new loud booing and waved white handkerchiefs. Danny Welbeck (left) scores the lead against goal- October 11. The DFB team and Ireland both en- head coach. Dunga’s first engagement with the The discussions about coach Paulo Bento keeper Yann Sommer. The Arsenal striker ensured sured three points, both winning 2-1 – Germany Seleção ended with a loss to the Netherlands at started afresh, especially after he had been England’s 2-0 victory against Switzerland with an- against Scotland and Ireland in Georgia. the 2010 World Cup. He wants to do better the confirmed by the Portuguese Association as the other goal. (Photo: Getty Images) second time around. Soccer News # 09/2014 5

ALLEZ BOOM! Come on you robobees!

Post-Rio is pre-Paris, so now your humble scribe is looking forward to a series of capti- vating UEFA EURO qualifiers. Except that the qualifying groups seem to be missing some prominent names: whatever happened to At- lantis and Toyland? And come to that, where have the robobees got to?

By Freddy Boom

Dear SoccerNews fans – have you all had a nice summer holi- day? Lovely. Good for you. But now it’s time to shake off that laid-back Mediterranean, Scandinavian or maybe even Brazilian dolce vita feeling and get those eye muscles back in training for some serious viewing. Football’s back in business at last, so welcome back to our amazing compendium of international Jogi Löw at the final training session in Dortmund before the Scotlandmatch. Looks like the terraces could do with a few robofans here too. (photo: dpa) soccer satire! Mon dieu, can eet bee September alreadee? Par- don my French, but the qualifiers are up and running. Post- Rio is pre-Paris as the famous German coach Sepp Herberger once other readers can skip to the next paragraph, which of course The story so far: James Bond gave Germany a hand, but Maya almost said, and it’s time our pre-Parations got under way. All you won’t. OK you asked for it: As you can see, dear armchair the Bee didn’t do the Netherlands much good. That just about roads lead to Paris, as the saying goes, including the country coaches, critics and plain-vanilla fans, unlike certain other media, sums up Day One of the European Championships qualifiers. lane that meanders past our remote-uncontrolled low-tech the editorial crew of SoccerNews has not been ousted by RTL. Germany, the World Cup Winners (just thought I’d mention editorial office. As you’ll have noticed, our harmless all-bells- We still handle our own reporting. We put the football world that), played Scotland, who of course were miles away in their and-whistles feature “Boom’s Brazil” has a new moniker. What? to rights just the way we want it. And all hyper-talkative bla-bla thoughts, dreaming of independence and stopping all south- A new name then: please welcome “Allez Boom!” Because as commentators from private TV broadcasters can stay firmly bound exports of whisky. Like Nessie, no doubt, and Sean Con- your favorite footie columnist Freddy Boom puts it in the lingo ante portas as far as we’re concerned. Thanks for letting me nery (sing along: “There’s only one Sean Connery”) they all want of the legions: “The EUROs are ante portas.” “At the gates” to you get that off my chest. Now then: Allez, allez – or in the common to be Scots pure and simple and a few days from now they get and me. First though here’s an insider’s tip for all long-suffering parlance of the motherland of football “Here we go, here we go, to vote on leaving the not-so-United Kingdom. Fittingly enough, viewers of German TV (as opposed to German TV viewers), my here we go!” the football teams of the two main nations concerned went Soccer News # 09/2014 6

Quotes of the day I was impressed by They crucified us. Gibraltar and the way they played. I’m sure they have a bright future.

Adam Nawalka, an exceptionally polite Polish team manager after their 7:0 demolition of the Rock. Gibraltar manager Allen Bulla. their separate ways in their EURO openers: at Hamburg zoo. What do you mean, “Mount film in Munich. Next day the tabloids carried a home can fill online with hearts or smileys. The England won, Scotland lost. Now, is that some Everest isn’t in Europe?” “So what?” I reply in charming photo of the Robben family flanked fanbots can even leap up for a Mexican wave! kind of omen? official UEFA-FIFA-speak. “And what business it by a gigantic Maya and a larger-than-life image Now there, dear readers, is an idea that the Ger- that of yours?” And then I’ll add an item to the of her best mate (another bee) Willi, all smiling man FA – read DFB – and their master tourna- This could be the moment to enquire, without agenda for which I’d put my hand into the … for the cameras. ‘And then what?’ do I hear you ment planner Oliver Bierhoff, should take on diving too deep into the geo-political fine print, well, maybe not: Home matches shall in future ask? Then Robben announced he wasn’t avail- board. Just imagine: cup final atmosphere any- why all sorts of “nations” are entitled to take mean matches played at home, not “down the able for the Dutch team, who therefore failed where you like, in Düsseldorf, say, or Paderborn. part in the qualifying rounds for the EUROs coast on the Algarve” as Gibraltar are doing to win a penalty and under new manager Guus And no more boos for Mario – be it Gomez or that aren’t actually independent states at all? this time around. In any case I’m really look- Hiddink lost to the Czech Republic 1:2. Maja, Götze. What a simply perfect football world that Just by way of example, there’s Scotland (al- ing forward to a future group match between Maja, what did you slip into Arjen’s bedtime would be. At a pinch I could even come up with though I’m holding my breath on that one), Atlantis and the Netherlands. And if Arjen Rob- honey? a few ideas for the fanbot design, particularly Wales, England and – first among equals – Gi- ben’s still around, maybe we’ll get to see him for matches in Dortmund with their yellow and braltar. Hang on a minute, isn’t that a rock in take a proper dive in the Atlantis penalty box, Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, black home kit. I’m thinking: Maya the Bee! the Med. largely inhabited by Barbary apes complete with snorkel and goggles! South Korean sports researchers have come up Everyone would love it, apart from RTL. Because and with a serious shortage of car parks? What with a groundbreaking invention: the robot fan, if they still insist on placing their experts in the next? Individual London suburbs? As the to- Talking of Robben, regular readers of Soccer- or fanbot. The Hanwha Eagles, a South Korean midst of the crowd for their pre-match forecasts, tally unofficial UEFA guru on the SoccerNews News will know that we have a soft spot for baseball league team, will in future be relying on we could soon be witnessing lots more pictures team, next time I’m asked for my opinion at him and his orange-clad “how-about-that-then- fanbots to party up an atmosphere in their oth- like the ones of Family Robben. Imagine, if you the pre-EUROs “who-can-come-out-and-play” ref?” antics. A few days back he took his wife erwise sparsely populated stadium. In place of a will, TV football critic Jens Lehman (him of Arse- meeting I’ll vote for Atlantis, Toyland, Mount Bernadien and their kids Lynn, Kai and Luka to head, these “spectators” have a screen on their nal goalkeeping fame) surrounded by a dozen Everest base camp and the lion’s enclosure watch the premiere of Disney’s “Maya the Bee” mechanical shoulders – a screen that the fans at “robobees”. The mind boggles. Soccer News # 09/2014 7

Did you know ... early as 1899. The company from Hanover presented the first tire with a molded tread in 1904. In the same year, the practice ... that a Scottish vet invented the of adding carbon black to the rubber mixture was established. This led to increased strength and durability, and also gave pneumatic tire? tires, which had once been yellowish, the familiar coal-black color we know today. In 1943 Continental filed a patent for the tubeless tire – a principle that has since become a matter of At the moment, the Scots are front page course. news. They want to break away from the United Kingdom, and the five million or so The success of Scotsman Dunlop’s invention is now quite liter- inhabitants of Scotland are due to vote in a ally out of this world: in 1971, Apollo 14’s MET lunar rickshaw referendum on independence on September negotiated the craters of the moon on rubber tires. The larg- 18. Apart from that, football-crazy Scotland est tires in the world, by the way, are four meters in diameter, was the first team Germany faced in an official weigh six tonnes, cost the same as a mid-range car (€33,000) match since winning the World Cup this sum- and are fitted to vehicles used in the mining industry. The canny mer. But what many people don’t know is that Scotsman Dunlop would be amazed if he could see what has this small country on the northern fringe of become of his little boy’s trike tire. Europe is the birthplace of an invention that keeps the world in motion to this day.

In 1888 a Scottish vet, John Boyd Dunlop by name, invented the pneumatic tire. He was motivated by paternal concern; as the rat- tling wooden wheels of his son’s trike were getting on his nerves, he covered them with a tube that he had made by sticking thin strips of rubber together. He fitted a valve and wrapped the whole construction in canvas. Peace returned to Pa Dunlop’s life – and the pneumatic rubber tire was born. It must be said, in fairness, that, in 1845, his compatriot Robert William Thomson had already had the bright idea of wrapping inflated animal intes- tines round the wheels of his carriages, but his invention was soon forgotten because the coverings perished so quickly.

In the end, it was Dunlop’s invention that paved the way for the automobile tire as we know it today. Tire manufacturer Continental sold its first pneumatic tires – which were good for an impressive 500 kilometers – as Veterinary surgeon John Boyd Dunlop. (Image: Dunlop) A replica of Dunlop’s first pneumatic tire. (Image: Dunlop) Soccer News # 09/2014 8

A road across a runway: business as usual in Gibraltar. (Photo: Kexbox) Cars wait in line: British Airways has right of way on Gibraltar. (Photo: Kexbox)

Did you know ... motorbikes and pushbikes also have to wait in line – the only exception is visitors with folding bikes, classified as pedestrians, who get to use a separate checkpoint and continue their journey by bus ... that to enter Gibraltar by car you have to cross the airport runway? on the other side. Visiting with a motorhome isn’t advisable, either: Gibraltar lacks suitable sites to accommodate them. The same is true of football pitches. Gibraltar’s home ground, the Victoria Sta- Car access to Gibraltar, the microstate at the southern tip of Spain – and a British Overseas Territory, dium, doesn’t comply with UEFA rules, which is why the national team plays its home Euro qualifiers to use its official title – is like a railway crossing: when the barrier is down the cars have to wait. Ex- in Faro in Portugal. cept it won’t be a train that races by but an aircraft taking off or landing. The airport runway crosses Winston Churchill Avenue, Gibraltar’s only road link to Spain; when planes take-off and land, traffic In all only 600 or so Gibraltarians play club football – around one in fifty of the total population comes to a halt. With parking spaces in short supply, tourists are in any case advised to leave their (nearly 30,000). In Germany, 7 million people play football within the German Football Association cars on the Spanish side of the border. Gibraltar has three million visitors a year: if all of them came (DFB) – which works out as one in every ten of the total population. And yet Gibraltar’s Football by car the streets would be permanently jammed. Gibraltar has just 29 km of paved highways – one Association has the edge on two counts. First, it was founded in 1895 – five years before the DFB. of the smallest road networks in the world. Even for the locals, with their 23,000 registered vehicles, And second, it was an impressive 119 years before Gibraltar’s national team recorded its first defeat parking is a constant headache. in a competitive game, losing 1-4 to the Faroe Islands on 1 March 2014. There’s a catch to that story, though: in fact this was only the second official game ever for the national team (the first being a Anyone who nevertheless decides to drive will have to join the queue at the border checkpoint: 0-0 draw with Slovakia). Gibraltar was not recognized by UEFA as an independent football nation Gibraltar is British sovereign territory so the Schengen Agreement doesn’t apply here. Riders of until 2013.